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The Puppy Episode
|image1= |season=4 |episode=22/23 |overall=84/85 |written_by=''Story by:'' Ellen DeGeneres Teleplay by: Mark Driscoll Dava Savel Tracy Newman Jonathan Stark |directed_by=Gil Junger |airdate=April 30, 1997 |previous="The Clip Show Patient" |next="Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah" }}" " is the title of the twenty-second and twenty-third episodes of Season 4 of Ellen and the show's eighty-fourth and eighty-fifth episodes overall. It is a two part episode and originally aired on April 30, 1997 on ABC. Plot Part One A visit from Richard, an old boyfriend, Richard, and his female boss, Susan, cause Ellen to gradually realize she's gay. Ellen has dinner with Richard but winds up having a late-night conversation with Susan, whom she senses to be a kindred spirit, after being unable to have sex with Richard. Confused by this startling self-discovery, Ellen seeks the guidance of yet another therapist and braces herself for yet another moment of truth in her life. Part Two A nervous Ellen comes out to all of her friends and they all take it surprisingly well, with the exception of Paige, who seems to have a hard time dealing with the idea. Ellen believes herself to be getting closer to Susan, but is disappointed to learn that Susan is in a long-term committed relationship. Quotes Trivia *This episode was titled as it was because the series so lacked direction that an ABC executive suggested character Ellen Morgan adopt a puppy. In the weeks before it aired, DeGeneres teased reporters looking for a scoop about the character's coming out by claiming that all that would happen in the episode would be Ellen getting a puppy. DeGeneres also said things like, "Yes, the rumors are true; we'll be revealing that my character is Llll...ebanese. No, we're adding a new character named Les Bian." *With 36.20 million viewers, this was the highest-rated episode of Ellen to ever air. The episode also won multiple awards, including two Emmy awards: one for Outstanding Writing for a Comedy Series and one for Outstanding Editing for a Series - Multi-Camera Production. *Ellen's real life mother, Betty DeGeneres, can be seen as one of the background characters boarding the plane immediately after she comes out as gay over the loudspeaker. Opening Credits Gag A card with "Ellen" written in red is shown propped in a chair next to a mug and a stack of books on a table. Cast * Ellen DeGeneres as Ellen Morgan * Joely Fisher as Paige Clark * David Anthony Higgins as Joe Farrell * Clea Lewis as Audrey Penney * Jeremy Piven as Spence Kovak * Laura Dern as Susan * Steven Eckholdt as Richard * k.d. lang as Janine * Oprah Winfrey as Therapist * Patrick Bristow as Peter Barnes * Patrick Harrigan as Waiter * Jack Plotnick as Barrett * Betty DeGeneres as Woman at Airport (uncredited) * Melissa Etheridge as Herself (uncredited) * Jorja Fox as The Attractive Woman (uncredited) * Gina Gershon as The Cashier (uncredited) * Leisha Hailey as Woman in Gay Bar (uncredited) * Demi Moore as The Sample Lady (uncredited) * Kathy Najimy as Woman in Gay Bar (uncredited) * Jenny Shimizu as The Woman in the Aisle (uncredited) * Billy Bob Thornton as The Grocer (uncredited) * Dwight Yoakam as The Bag Boy (uncredited) Category:Episodes Category:Season Four Episodes